It’s shown time and time again that including all the categories you can on your Google Business Profile will give a substantive increase to your rankings. As one of the simplest and yet most impactful optimization methods a business can undergo, there is no reason why a listing shouldn’t utilize this feature. Even a slight boost in rankings can lead to thousands to hundreds of thousands of new leads depending on the size of a multi-location brand. As adding additional categories can be performed en masse, there shouldn’t be anything holding a business back.
In a new comprehensive 2023 study looking at 1,050 business locations, businesses that used one or more additional categories for their Google Business Profiles saw a higher average map ranking than those that do not. Businesses simply must choose the primary category that best represents their business and try to fill in all nine secondary categories that still have some relevancy.
Additional benefits come from secondary categories as well, benefits that come without any drawbacks. There are nine options for secondary categories, each one a net gain, making the business appear for additional search queries without cannibalizing or diluting any searches from their primary. Google will also allow businesses to set separate hours of operation for some categories, allowing businesses such as Walmart to have separate hours for their grocery section, opticians, and photo centers nested within their main listings.
DAC clients have seen all these benefits as well. Restaurants adding secondary categories for their different styles of food have seen up to a 17% increase in overall action the first month after implementing secondary categories. Auto part dealers have also seen a 22% increase in leads simply by adding their minor “tool rental” aspect of their business as a secondary category.
The only excuse for not including secondary categories is when that additional category could qualify as a second business listing, such as an ATM that keeps separate hours from the main bank or an individual agent’s listing that shares an office with their firm. If any business is looking for the quickest, easiest, and most impactful way to immediately increase their traffic however, secondary categories are the ideal solution.
Want to be fully prepared for the next round of changes in local search? Start by partnering with the experts on our Local Presence Management team to get ahead of the curve. Let’s talk!